No Love for Mom

This Sunday is Mother’s Day.

I know, this is breaking news to you. Before you get too excited, this is NOT a Mother’s Day gift guide. Lord knows everyone is writing one of those this week. You are safe here. I’m not going to venture a guess as to what to buy your mother when truth be told, I haven’t even bought my Mom a gift yet.

If it’s not a gift guide, then what the hell is it? Better yet, what does a football player have to do with Mother’s Day? Well, driving home the other day I remembered something very important. There is no love for Mom these days, at least when it comes to football.

Remember back in the day when you were young and watching football games on TV? I know you are about as old as me and will probably remember after a touchdown or an incredible play, the TV cameras would switch to the sideline and zero in on the particular player involved. Almost every single time, the player would form a big goofy smile, raise their hand, move their taped fingers up and down, and mouth the words “Hi Mom.”

At the surface, it’s two very simple words. Yet every Sunday, after every major score or big play in the game, you’d inevitably see the same wholesome and genuine reaction – a quick shout-out to Mom. When it all came down to it, regardless of the size of the stage, every little boy wanted to send some love to his Mom.

Forget the fact you were in the midst of a physical war with other grown men trying to take your head off. You were covered in dirt, sweating, enduring pain all over your body, physically drained, stinking, and maybe even bleeding. You still wanted to take what fleeting moment you had and make the most of it – “Hi Mom”

As a viewer, you couldn’t hear the player but you could damn sure read their lips. There came a point where you were anxiously awaiting it. The camera would zoom into the player sitting on the bench and you’d sit there knowing what should happen next. It’s almost like waiting with bated breath when someone is rolled off the field on a stretcher. You wait for that quick reassuring gesture of a thumbs up, as if to say, everything will be ok.

Let’s bring back the other simple sideline gestures for old time’s sake. Give a shout-out to Mom and let the world know how much she is appreciated and loved.

HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY TO ALL THOSE AWESOME MOMS OUT THERE!

Note: Halfway through writing/editing this post I realized I had picked a picture of Dez Bryant for a Mother’s Day post. Not exactly the best to select for Mother’s Day given his history with his own. I decided to leave his picture up for relevance to the topic at hand though and the representative “me-first” pose. I did find it kinda funny though.